Speakers likened Occupy Wall Street and the protest campaigns it has birthed to the civil rights movement Thursday night at a panel discussion attended by about 100 people in Des Moines.

Kathleen McQuillen, a member of the nonviolence group American Friends Service Committee, John Nichols, a political writer at the Nation magazine, and state Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad of Des Moines all spoke at the Occupy the Caucuses headquarters in the East Village.

The commitment to nonviolent protest is a key link between the two movements, the panelists agreed. Both movements have also been influential in turning the spotlight on human rights.

“I think every 20 or 30 years you have an event that awakens the people,” Abdul-Samad said.

While the civil rights movement took up the cause of racial injustice, the Occupy movement has sounded the call for economic justice, McQuillen said.

“Perhaps that’s the last one to be brought forth in our society,” McQuillen said. “Not that there’s equality around races at this point, but we started that, and I think when we can bring forth economic justice than we can also bring forth a more racially equal society.”

Nichols said Occupy protesters must focus on spreading their message. He called protests related to Iowa’s caucuses “the beginning of a process that will put people who have been stomped on too long in charge of this country.”

The Rev. Jesse Jackson had been scheduled to speak at the forum, but his appearance was canceled.